MINI Custom Sidelight/Indicator Assemblies

This project has been influenced by the newer optional LED sidelights available for the R56 MINI Hatch and the Countryman/Paceman. As I wanted to complete the new style of lighting I have created on my MINI R50, I needed to make the sidelights match the angel eye ring style.

N/S Assembly Work in Progress

I started out by buying a set of sidelight/indicator assemblies from eBay, which I then cut using a rotary tool until there was nothing left but the frame. With this corpus, I then took measurements and created a bulb holder and seating for an SMD LED ring. To finish this off, I painted the finished assembly in a chrome spray paint to ensure reflectivity. (Unfortunately it seems this chrome effect has proven to be too reflective, in some cases leading to onlookers seeing just a bright light instead of a well defined ring!)

SIdelight/Indicator Assembly

Sidelight On

Indicating

It was now time to purchase the SMD LED Rings that I had designed the assembly for. I discovered an eBay seller who was selling Amber and White SMD LED Rings already setup for use in an indicator/sidelight combination, so this seemed the perfect solution, as it would allow the indicator light to be even brighter which would in turn make it safer (As my intentions to turn when driving would be more obvious)

Assembly Fitted

MINI with all sidelights On

With both assemblies complete, it was time to remove the front bumper from my MINI and replace the existing sidelights with my new assemblies. The first pictures demonstrates the newly fitted indicator/sidelight assembly on the driver’s side and the second picture shows how the MINI now looks with all sidelights on, with 3 consistent rings on each side of the car.